There is known a feeder of loose materials disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,661,302, Cl 222/226 published Sept. 5, 1972, comprising a hopper with a chamber having a discharge hole in which a ferromagnetic body is placed, and a source of alternating magnetic field covering the chamber. The alternating magnetic field makes the ferromagnetic body execute oscillations transmitted to the loose material and causing it to escape from the discharge hole thanks to reduced inner friction between the particles of the loose material. A disadvantage of this feeder resides in that it fails to assure reliable closing of the discharge hole in the absence of the alternating magnetic field, which promotes inadvertent escape of the loose material and confines application of the feeder. In the course of operation the ferromagnetic body fails to disperse the particles of loose material to facilitate breaking of the clogs of such material, which makes this prior art feeder less reliable in operation.
There is also known a feeder of loose materials taught in British Pat. No. 1,543,865, Cl. B 65 G 65/52, published 1979, which comprises a hopper, a chamber arranged in the lower portion of the hopper and having a control means in the form of a latticed partition with kinematically disconnected magnetic bodies placed thereon, and a source of alternating magnetic field covering the chamber by magnetic lines of force it generates. The magnetic bodies act on the loose material to break clots of such material during discharging this material from the hopper, this action making the material being discharged from the hopper more homogeneous to result in improved quality of the end product. However, the latticed partition makes it impossible to use the feeder for discharging bristle-like fibrous and micro-fibrous loose materials, which tend to conjest on the latticed partition to draw the magnetic bodies away therefrom whereby discharge of the loose material is terminated. In addition, such a lattced partition exhibits resistance to the flow of loose material and affects the reliability of the feeder.